Easing the Pain
by baconstateofmind
Summary: George is grieving Fred, and all he feels is pain. What can he do to ease the pain? One-Shot, set after DH, few DH spoilers I guess. Please review!


**Hi Guys! ;D **

**This is my 2nd fanfiction, I'm currently struggling to think of ideas so I decided to be a bit unoriginal and write this. **

**Please review I'm still kinda new to all of this!**

**Love&Hugs xxxx**

* * *

Easing the Pain

George Weasley was in pain. This was the only way he could describe what he felt.

Two days ago George lost his brother, twin, other half and best friend Fred in the Battle of Hogwarts. He didn't understand how life could go on, how he was supposed to move on. The mischevious glint in his eyes had disappeared. All of his family and friends were grieving. He felt like they didn't have the right to mourn for Fred: Did they share a flat with him, exchange jokes, and give him antidotes when trying out their joke shop inventions? No. George did. He was the one who did everything with Fred, right up until his last laugh. There wasn't much George didn't do with Fred. They had played the same position in Quidditch whilst at school, they carried out pranks together, they were always thinking on the same wavelength, they were the cool guys at Hogwarts who threw parties and made jokes and new all the secret passageways and they even started up their own very successful business together. George felt sick to the stomach to think that all of this was no more.

The other problem was he didn't know how to grieve. He cried a lot, then he blamed Voldemort and the Death Eaters, then he felt a crushing pain in his chest. One day later he was still hurting a lot and when Ginny and Ron tried to ask him how he was feeling he could only reply that he felt immense pain. His mother tried her best to keep everyone busy and try and move on but often she would just break down in tears and Mr Weasley would take her up to his room and she wouldn't reappear for several hours.

The funeral was then planned for a week later, along with services for the rest of the fallen. This was probably the hardest part for George. He just wasn't ready to say goodbye yet and none of the Weasleys, along with Harry and Hermione, didn't want to either. They cried rivers of tears but afterwards everyone perked up slightly as a lot of them had respective partners to lean on, and after a few hours of watching Harry and Ginny gripping hands and Ron with his arm round Hermione's waist, George had to get out of there fast. He sat in his bedroom at the Burrow which he had once shared with his twin and drank so much Firewhisky he couldn't see straight. After throwing up everything he had drank and the little amounts he had to eat he sat and considered different ways to try and stop the pain. As much as the alcohol stopped his heartache he knew he couldn't put his family through more stress and sadness, so he decided that one way to move on would be to try and go to different places that have a significant meaning to him and Fred. He could start in the morning if his hangover wasn't too awful.

He woke up in the morning with an immense hangover but this was cured with Mrs Weasley's hangover potion. When he walked into the kitchen for breakfast everyone became silent and smiled sympathetically at him. He made a pathetic attempt at a smile and sat down at the table, not even bothering to try and eat his eggs and bacon.

"So, er, George," Mrs Weasley started slowly. George grunted in reply. "What are your plans for today?"

"I was thinking of going out today, visiting places that meant a lot to me and Fred, and maybe trying to tidy up the joke shop a bit," mumbled George.

Everyone went silent. George looked around the table, confused.

"That's a good idea, dear. Do you want anyone to come with you?" Mrs Weasley smiled kindly.

George was just about to reply no when Percy, Bill and his parents piped up, saying they will go with him. Percy was feeling especially guilty for Fred's death as he had finally started speaking to the family again mere hours after Fred's death, but Bill and George's parents felt responsible because he was the oldest and he felt that he should have been protecting them.

"No, really, I'm fine on my own-"

"George, do you really think it would be a good idea going on your own?"

"Yeah, like Percy said, it might be kinda hard-"

"NO!" George shouted, boiling with anger, and suddenly his brothers and parents stopped talking, looking rather fearful.

"George has every right to go on his own, Fred is his twin and nobody is as close to him as George was, they have a special connection," Hermione stated calmly, voicing George's thoughts and not correcting her use of the present tense. George smiled at her gratefully, went upstairs to get dressed and left the Burrow after telling his mum where he was going.

The first place he apparated to was Ottery St. Catchpole, the village near his home which he and Fred visited regularly to play pranks on muggles, or to flirt with the muggle girl in the shop nearby with muggle card tricks, which were so very like magic. George smiled to himself at the thought of them fighting over her and turned to tell Fred the muggle clearly fancied him but there was nobody standing there. He could've sworn he felt someone there. George felt another crushing pain in his chest, and took deep breaths to fight the tears behind his eyes. He understood it was ok to cry so he let a few tears fall. He also knew he would keep imagining Fred there with him so he decided he could do it if he wanted to. He felt the pain ease slightly in his chest.

George turned away from the shop and apparated to the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. He stood in the middle of the pitch and looked up at the stalls and around him, remembering all the quidditch games that Gryffindor won, and the competitions he and Fred used to play their own little game which involved them trying to hit their opponents as close to their private areas as they could with bludgers. Thankfully they weren't caught! George grinned cheekily at the memory. He thought he heard something moving behind him but he was wrong. He shook his head, sighing.

George then apparated to the next place in his head – Hogsmeade. This place held a lot of memories for them as they came here regularly to buy things from Zonko's the joke shop, which gave them ideas for many legendary pranks on Filch, the caretaker at Hogwarts. He remembered his first visit here with Fred and the amazement of Honeydukes, the popular sweet shop; he remembered Fred, Lee and himself chasing Angelina, Katy and Alicia up the cobbled street one Christmas and Katy slipped on the ice and fell, taking Lee down with her which ensued a lot of hilarity from everyone else; and he remembered trying firewhisky for the first time in the Three Broomsticks and the first time he felt the strangely comforting burning in his throat. When he was brought back to reality he felt a strange prickling sensation on the back of his neck – someone was watching him. He turned round to find nobody there. He imagined Fred teasing him for being scared, and he smiled to himself. References to Fred were unavoidable and he knew it was ok to talk about him and think about him and feel sad because he had lost someone very important and he couldn't ever forget him and he wouldn't let anyone else forget him. He felt the pain starting to ease even more.

The next place George was apparating to was going to be the hardest – Diagon Alley, home to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, their joke shop. George walked purposefully up the cobbled street, avoiding eye contact with the other shoppers. Suddenly he was there. The shop looked dark inside, and there was dust collecting on the window panes. George took out his wand, cast the unlocking charm and he slowly opened the door, flooding the front of the shop with sunlight.

Everything was exactly the way they had left it, surprisingly. He was expecting the Death Eaters to have destroyed the place. He looked around at the shelves stacked with Skiving Snackboxes, love potions, fake wands, daydream charms and Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and other knick knacks which were covered in dust. He took out his wand, and spent some time clearing up the shop, trying to make excuses for not going into the workshop at the behind the tills. He turned on the lights, and looked around with a satisfied smile on his face, but his heart still ached. He didn't feel the tears rolling down his face.

He knew he would have to face the workshop at some point; why not now? He slowly walked behind the till, and opened the door. The tables were covered in burn marks, suspicious-looking stains, paper, strange, colourful plants and different potion ingredients. He saw their work robes hanging up on the wall and he felt a stab in his chest when he saw Fred's. Walking over to the work bench that had paper full of ideas for a new product (which, if George remembered correctly, was the new Everlasting Laughing Giggling Grinning potion which was designed to make people cheerful, sort of like a liquid Cheering Charm) when the door closed behind him. He jumped and turned round to face the intruder.

He couldn't believe his eyes. It was Fred.

He was leaning against the wall with a sad smile on his face. He looked... transparent. George was in shock.

"Cat got your tongue Georgie?"

"Fred!" George shouted, running towards him. He tried to give him a hug but he ended up running through him, which felt like an icy cold shower.

"Whoa, calm down!" Fred muttered.

"Fred! Fred... How? Why? When-"

"I don't know how I got here, or why. But I have been here since you apparated to Ottery St. Catchpole," Fred cut in. "I don't know how much longer I'm gonna be with you mate,"

George's face fell. "Fred, listen, you can't leave-"

"It's not my decision old chum, but remember this: this is gonna sound so ridiculous and swoony, but George I'm always gonna be a part of you, you know that. I'll always be here. And you better continue with the joke shop or I'll come back and kick you right up the arse!" Fred smiled, trying to lighten up the situation.

"Of course I will, I'll try so hard, but it won't be the same without you. Who's gonna come up with the ideas and force me into trying them out and take care of paying the bills? It's so hard you not being here Fred. I'm not ready to say goodbye, I'm really gonna miss you, it hurts so much but I'll continue running the joke shop just for you," George said, tears rolling fast down his face.

"Just remember I'll always be with you. And I'm sorry things turned out this way, I didn't want to go, I just wasn't looking when the building collapse-"

"It wasn't your fault Fred. I'm sorry you have to go too."

"The pain will ease Forge" Fred tried to comfort him with the use of his old nickname.

"I dunno if I want it to or not. I just don't wanna lose the memory of you Gred" George mumbled.

"How could you forget me? I'm your twin! I always was the handsome one," Fred grinned cheekily.

Suddenly, Fred looked above him. "It's time for me to go George. I.. I love you. You'll be fine. I'll miss you. Goodbye."

"No!" George cried, his eyesight slightly blurry with falling tears. "I love you too Fred! I'll make this joke shop the best shop in the world, I promise!" He fell to his knees, watching Fred rapidly fading away.

George curled into a ball and cried for hours. He finally sat up and looked out the window, where the sun was setting. He heard a voice inside telling him it's ok now, he's done the worst part of his grieving. George smiled and stood up, he was going to start fulfilling his promise right now.

The pain had eased.

The End

* * *

**hope you all liked it. i apologize if its not great, i wrote it in one night and i was crying. please review! xxxx**


End file.
